All , All , Apologise:Shaky Foundations
by TheRoseShadow21
Summary: The foundations of a friendship can be shaky , and easily broken by grief , but that doesn't mean they cannot be rebuilt. One-shot , rated T to be safe .


They had all been affected by Sakura Oogami's suicide, especially Aoi, but that was only to be expected, as they had been best friends. But so far, she seemed to be coping well. She was still cheerful and friendly, and ate ridiculous amounts of doughnuts. But often she'd grit her teeth and go silent as if repressing something, some of the others had heard her crying at night, and she was somewhat colder in her interactions towards Togami, Fukawa and Hagakure, although this was mostly towards the latter 2 , and not so detectable. But on the surface of things, she seemed fine, and life went on much the way it did in between trials.

Then one evening , roughly a week later , during dinner time , Aoi arrived in the canteen with her meal on a tray

"Hey , Saku …." Then her eyes widened as she trailed off mid-sentence . Looking as though she'd been hit , she fell to her knees , dropping her food and drink. She sat there for a few seconds , dazed , then half-heartedly tried to clean up.

"Asahina-san?" Naegi stuttered in surprise. Kirigiri quietly got up to approach the girl , and Naegi followed.

"Are you OK?" Naegi asked. Aoi looked up with, tears coming out of her eyes.

"i…I had a nap after swimming today…and when I woke up I 'd completely forgotten that Sakura-Chan was….was…..I'm sorry."

"it's fine ." Naegi said "Don't worry. Here' I'll help clean up."

"Thanks. " Kirigiri didn't say anything, just helped Aoi up and sat her down at the table. Aoi looked at the silent purple-eyed girl and managed a smile.

"Thanks. "

Naegi went away to throw away the mess. Aoi looked around , still dazed.

"Take this. I'll go get my own food. "

Aoi and Kirigiri turned at the sound of the casual voice. Hagakure was standing in front of the seat opposite to Aoi , and he had just put down a lunch tray . He looked sheepish as he pushed the tray towards Aoi.

Aoi took the food , acknowledged Hagakure with a nod , and slowly started to eat.

"Yo , Naegi-Chi , no need to find anything else , okay."

Naegi grins as he come back to the table. They all sit together and eat , mostly in silence. Despite her slowness , Aoi was the first to finish.

"Hey , Asahina-Chi?"

"Hmmm?"

"I have something to show you…come to my room when I've finished?"

"Eh?" Aoi turned and looked at Hagakure , narrowing her eyes suspiciously , which made him backtrack.

"It's not anything _weird _or anything like that. Look, if you don't believe me , I'll get Naegi-Chi and Kirigiri-Chi to come too. You guys are fine with that, right?" The last sentence was aimed at Naegi and Kirigiri, who exchanged a look , as if mutely discussing this.

"We might as well." Naegi said aloud. Kirigiri nodded, then said to Hagakure.

"Okay then."

…

Hagakure's room looked much the same as everyone else's , but it was clearly his from the smell of incense and the pairs of sandals randomly scattered across the floor. Hagakure went straight over to the table and started arranging something on there. The other 3 couldn't see what he was doing as his body was obscuring it , but once he turned , they could see.

On the table, there were ten chunky, small and brightly coloured candles in varying degrees of melting. There was also a box of matches, but the candles weren't lit.

"What? I don't get it….." Aoi looked clueless. Kirigiri, however, stepped forward and pointed to one of the candles.

"Sayaka Maizono." She then pointed to the next "Junko Enoshima" and the next one "Leon Kuwata." Then she put her hand back down and said "And so on, correct?"

"Kirigiri-san , you're going in the wrong order. Look, that one is practically new." Naegi pointed out

"Oh. Right."

Hagakure let out a laugh "As expected of Naegiri!"

"Nae…giri?" Naegi and Kirigiri asked, almost in unison.

"Yeah! You guys are always together , and you're like some hotshot detective duo , what with Kirigiri-Chi finding evidence and going investigating and Naegi-chi with his YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG and super correct theories…." When Naegi and Kirigiri gave him nothing more than a look, and Aoi still hadn't uttered a word, he sighed.

"Anyway, I guess we should start. He quickly went to dim the lights slightly, then came back. Striking a match, he went to light each candle, saying something about each person as he did.

"Sayaka Maizono, gentle and popular."

"Junko Enoshima, feisty and gone too soon."

"Leon Kuwata, rebellious."

"Chihiro Fujisaki, everyone's favourite innocent"

"Mondo Oowada, image of manliness."

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru, utterly outrageous."

"Hifumi Yamada , a real funny guy."

"Celestia Ludenberg, dreamy and elegant."

"Alter Ego, the cute little AI full of hope."

After that one, he paused, and instead of lighting the last candle and saying a few words about Sakura Oogami , he handed the matchstick to Aoi.

"Huh?" she stood up and took the matchstick hesitantly.

"She was your friend….and I'm not sure I have the right to decide what to say about her. " Aoi studied him for a moment, expression unreadable, and then went to the final, newest candle, one that was a deep red , and lit it."

"Sakura-Chan…Sakura Oogami. Best friend. Relentlessly Brave….." Aoi was crying, but smiling. She blew out the flame on the matchstick and handed it to Hagakure.

"You could just throw it away, you know?" Hagakure pointed to the bin.

"Oh, right." Aoi did so , then sat back down on the edge of the bed/

"And you do this every night?" Naegi asked.

"Well, yeah. Most times. "

"Isn't it dangerous though? Like a fire hazard." Aoi wondered

"Nahhh, I usually blow them out before going to bed, I ,like , try to meditate and see if I get any visions , but obviously since Kuwata-chi stole my crystal ball….anyway , I meditate then blow 'em out then go to sleep. "

The 4 highschoolers watched the candles for a while, then Kirigiri spoke up

"I still don't get it though-why'd you bring us here? "

"Yeah. This seems to me to be more of a private ritual….and why only now?" Naegi added.

"Ah , that." Hagakure thought a while , collecting his thoughts. "Well….it was for Asahina-Chi , really."

"For me? Why?"

"Let me just explain…I was thoughtless. You know, regarding The Ogr-Oogami-chi. But me being me and all….I didn't really realise it….until seeing how it affected you. Ideally , I should be apologising to her , but I'm a fortune teller , not a clairvoyant , so I can't . So I wanted to apologise to you –and this is how I prove it. So, I'm sorry, Asahina-Chi. "

"Haga…Hagakure…" Aoi looked touched.

"That's….such a nice thing to do, Hagakure-kun." Naegi was amazed.

Hagakure laughed "I'm a nice guy, don't you know?"

"How modest." Kirigiri said drily , the ghost of a smile on her lips.

Hagakure pulled a face , and Aoi laughed.

"Thanks, Hagakure. Let's hope you don't have to add any more candles to that lot."

"I'm sure I won't have to. Cos we're all gonna get out , right? All of us , even that crazy murderer , and we'll defeat the mastermind , with Naegiri leading the way , and we'll escape!"

"You're right , Hagakure-kun , but stop calling us that , please!" Naegi pleaded , smiling anyway.

Hagakure rolled his eyes as if pretending to be annoyed."Fine….but only when you aren't in awesome-duo mode, okay? And let's make that a promise, okay? To all escape and be friends again."

"I'm for it." Asahina said.

"Me too, for sure!" Naegi added.

Kirigiri simply gave a nod in assent.

Hagakure grinned at them all, and then blew out the candles.

**The inspiration for this fic was surprisingly random – The way Hagakure was looking at Aoi during Episode 9 . He looked…I dunno, repentant, apologetic, remorseful –and definitely as if he's learnt something important. ** **Anyway, the episode title is where part of this fic's title comes from. **

**This is probably the last one-shot I'll be doing for a few months at least –I start Yr13 tomorrow, and I still have a multichapter that needs finishing …anyway , please leave feedback **


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